"So, what are you up to tonight?" says the Cockney to the Northerner.

"Well, not a lot really," says the Northerner. "Just planting a little C4 on that fuel dump over there, providing some covering fire while my mate disables a chemical warhead and then legging it to the rendezvous where we expect to see you revved up in an APC waiting to get us to the extraction point in double-quick time."

"Quiet night, then," says the Cockney.

The phrases 'boring job' and 'SAS' are as unlikely bedfellows as our own Ben Talbot and the luscious Angelina Jolie (her loss - Ben). Hereford's finest are the original action heroes - storming embassies and doing the important stuff behind enemy lines has made them the stuff of legends. Game designers couldn't dream up better characters if they ate a mountain of cheese before bedtime.

The combination of special forces and a Gulf War scenario means this game's hotter than a Baghdad summer, which was certainly the case with the first Conflict: Desert Storm. It shifted enough copies to make it one of the best sellers of 2002 - which was quite a feat considering it wasn't released until September of that year. And now a Desert Storm has been stirred up again. A true sign of the times.

Those clambering for the moral high ground and wanting to denounce this game as a crass attempt to cash in on the current Iraq conflict should remove their Mary Whitehouse masks and get back to reading the Daily Mail because, like its predecessor, Conflict: Desert Storm II focuses solely on the events of the 1991 war - 12 years before Uncle Sam and the British Bulldog went for another stroll in bandit country. So there'll be no storming Baghdad and certainly no tracking down members of a deposed regime, some would say more's the pity...

Instead, the developer has built the sequel on the same timeline as the first offering - an understandable game design considering the brevity of the initial war. For those who have played the original Conflict: Desert Storm, this follow-up is very familiar territory. We're talking third-person (with a first-person option), four-man squad-based combat, fulfilling similar objectives to the first game - search and destroy, rescue and reconnaissance... the general meat and potatoes of military operations.

Your original team also returns to the fray (with comical regional English accents) and, just like before, each team member has strengths in certain areas - whether it's sniping, heavy weapons or explosives.

As the game progresses, your ability to pick the right man for each task becomes vital if you want to get the job done quickly and, most importantly, effectively.

This is an arcade squad shooter, so any armchair generals out there need not apply. There's no map option, so you can't issue movement commands any further than your line of sight. Think Brute Force, without the big lizard or the nifty invisibility option. The control system is identical to the first game - a simple combination of holding the Left trigger and activating one of the four pad buttons will issue basic but functional commands to your troops while you can still engage in real-time combat.

So, you've got the same team, the same controls, and the same plot line. Where's the new stuff? Good question, because in many ways the game plays like a standalone mission disc rather than a real revolution to the Conflict: Desert Storm franchise. Not that this is an altogether bad thing, as fans of the first game will feel that this title is a refinement over the last, thanks to many subtle improvements.

For a start, very little of this game actually incorporates desert combat. Rather than the many anonymous sand dunes of the first title, you've now got towns to patrol through, weapons facilities to sabotage and generally a lot more urban warfare to keep you entertained. You'll still travel through sandy wasteland but now your objectives will often involve tarmac and brickwork too. This keeps the combat close and unpredictable, with snipers vectoring in from ledges and dreaded tanks bursting through civilian buildings.

Visually, it's a step in the right direction from the last offering, with more environmental detail, better character modelling and much better character movement. Your soldier doesn't feel as sluggish as he did the first time around and, with the addition of a neat new sniper move, he can now crawl and roll along the dirt whilst dodging enemy gunfire.

Possibly the biggest gameplay development is the new requirement to finish a mission with all four members. There'll be times when an artillery shell wipes out three of your team and badly wounds the fourth member, which means you'll have to cover and heal yourself before running out in the open to try and give first aid to your fallen comrades. It encourages you to be clever with resources - you can't heal if you don't have first aid left, so the need to switch inventory items among your crew is important. It adds a decent twist to the run and gun action and is a worthy addition.

But squad control is only as good as the AI, and this is where Conflict: Desert Storm I, like its predecessor, shines like a beacon for other developers to steer towards. Your boys are smart - very smart.

Give them the order to fire at will and they're ruthlessly efficient, even telling you when they're changing magazines. Tell them to follow you and they'll be jogging at your heels faster than a sheepdog. And they'll need to be, because the enemy AI is often of an equal calibre, although there are random moments of inconsistency, such as a machine-gunner staying in position after you've driven past, got out of the vehicle, and stood behind him. Conflict: Desert Storm II is an evolution rather than a revolution. It's got better graphics, tweaked gameplay, a lot more vehicles to play with, a snazzier front end - including better cinematics - and the lofty promise of downloadable content thanks to Xbox Live. But what it doesn't have is heaps of longevity as there are only a paltry ten missions - none of which are particularly big. Playing on Easy difficulty is a mistake - you'll walk through the game in little more than six or seven hours. Medium and Hard offer considerably more challenge but the difficulty is based on inflicted damage and stricter aiming parameters rather than more, or harder, mission objectives. And whatever way you look at it, you're still playing the same maps.

Solo missions aside, Conflict: Desert Storm II has a great multiplayer co-op mode that allows you to play through the whole game with up to three friends and is genuinely fun - especially in two-player vertical split-screen, where you each control a playable character and an NPC. Running to offer first aid to your bullet-ridden mate doesn't get boring and, needless to say, offers great gloating opportunities.

Conflict: Desert Storm II offers an immersive and enjoyable gaming experience. The tweaks, polish and improvements make the sequel a stronger game than the first. However, after the rather abrupt ending, we were left wanting more. But isn't that the same feeling you always get when you reach the end of something you've really enjoyed?

1. Great control
2. Even more polished than the original
3. Varied missions
4. Keep action fresh
5. Multiplayer is great
6. Excellent AI

1. It ends too quickly; we need more!

Power
Instant saves and quick loads means you won't feel detached from the action.

Style
Bullets flying in a sandstorm and screams of "Armour ahead!" The game oozes atmosphere.

Immersion
The intuitive control and great action will keep you playing constantly...

Lifespan
...but you'll find that continual play brings a swift conclusion. Still there's always multiplayer!

Summary
One of the best squad shooters just got better. It's a refinement rather than a big development though, and it's over too soon.